Fight Path: RFA 6's Aaron Ely goes small for big TV fight

In high school, Aaron Ely had wrestling success at 125 pounds, and he won a state championship in the weight class as a junior.

But until recently, that was the last time he saw 125 pounds – through a college wrestling career, an amateur MMA career and the beginning of a pro MMA career. But following his first pro loss, Ely made a commitment to drop down to flyweight, and he hopes to see more success.

One fight after reclassifying to 125 pounds and coming off a win because of it, the 4-1 Ely takes on Dustin Ortiz (9-2) at Resurrection Fighting Alliance 6 tonight in Kansas City, Mo. He’s part of an AXS TV-televised card that includes a main event of James Krause vs. Toby Imada and co-main event Brock Larson vs. Eduardo Pamplona.

Ely has as much on the line as any of them. He’s fighting not far from his home of Leavenworth, Kan., and he has committed to a more aggressive fighting style since suffering his only loss, by split decision.

He will also try to continue getting attention for the flyweight division that he considers one of the most exciting in MMA.

“Little guys, they fight,” Ely told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “In wrestling or MMA or anything combat, it’s more exciting. With big guys, they’re just moving slower because they’re big, but with the small guys, we can really move.”

Ely moved quickly from a successful high school wrestling career to college, where he learned more about the commitment required at a higher level of competition. He started fighting in amateur MMA bouts not long after college and trained seriously shortly after.

The 23-year-old, who has kept his career’s path in the family with an older brother serving as his manager, is trying to become more adept at the business side of fighting. Because so far in competition, he has shown he is a quick learner.

“I wanted (to go pro) for a long time, but I didn’t deal well with some of the parts of the business,” he said. “I don’t like people who are working angles. I’m not trying to angle to anything. I just want to fight.”

Lifetime of wrestling

Ely was born in Pennsylvania, and his family moved to Leavenworth when he was very young. It’s a town well-known for its federal penitentiary, and there’s also a military base nearby, which can make for a unique mix of residents, he said.

“There are a lot of dictatorial, scary people who can do bad things to you,” Ely said with a laugh. “But we barely even notice them. They’re on the other end of town.”

Ely gravitated toward wrestling by age 6, in part because his older brother and his friends were involved in the sport, but also because of his personality. He was smart for his age, talking extensively when he was just a year old. The individual nature of the sport appealed to him.

At 10, he began freestyle wrestling, which kept him involved nearly year-round. As a junior in high school, he was a state champion at 125 pounds, moving up from the 119-pound class where he wrestled earlier in the year. It was the last time he would compete at 125 pounds for more than six years.

He was recruited to Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, where he connected with coach Tim Flynn, whom he calls an underrated wrestling coach. There were things he learned there, he said, that would soon serve him in his new career.

“I’m someone who looks at things as systems,” Ely said. “That’s how he helped me understand things, because he’s a logical thinker. I learned about the work that it takes – the will, willpower, drive, determination and pure sheer force of will – to be at your absolute best.”

Gaining aggressiveness

Ely has enjoyed watching MMA since his youth, helped by an inclination toward combat sports fed by his father, who had been a boxer as a kid. He kept an interest from high school through Edinboro, where friends helped him try some jiu-jitsu classes.

“Once I got into it, I could see it wasn’t that much different than wrestling, but the goal is different,” he said. “That was appealing.”

He accepted a few amateur MMA fights before he even really started MMA training. Then when he did start training, in May 2010, he continued that path and eventually compiled 14 amateur fights.

When he was ready to go pro, he did so with force, and he won his first three fights by first-round submissions. His debut, at Shark Fights 19, involved a memorable submission. In his second fight, at Bellator 56, he beat Owen Evinger, who would go on to face Joe Warren at Bellator 80.

As with many fighters, Ely learned perhaps the most from his loss. Laramie Shaffer topped Ely by split decision at RFA2, a fight Ely continues to regret.

“I lost, even though I feel like I won, but it happened,” he said. “I could’ve done more. I should’ve been going right after him, but I guess I thought I was winning.”

In his next fight, at RFA 3, Ely came out against Matt Manzanares with force. He had also dropped from 135 pounds to 125 pounds while hoping to take advantage of greater length in the smaller weight class.

It worked against Manzanares, and he hopes it works against on Friday as he fights near his hometown.

“I have a height advantage here,” he said. “A lot of flyweights, I just tower over them, and I can outreach them. I think this is a good fit for me, and I want to take advantage of it.”

Award-winning newspaper reporter Kyle Nagel pens “Fight Path” each week. The column focuses on the circumstances that led fighters to a profession in MMA. Know a fighter with an interesting story? Email us at news [at] mmajunkie.com.

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